Top Senate Republicans Ask Bondi To Support FISA

During Pam Bondi’s confirmation hearings for attorney general, top Senate Republicans asked her to support the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which federal agents have abused to spy on Americans. 

The FBI and Department of Justice used FISA to spy on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, as The Federalist previously reported. Section 702 of the legislation allows federal agencies to collect communications of noncitizens, outside the country, without a warrant. It supposedly bars the government from spying on Americans, but the CIA was caught in 2022 using the law — which Congressional Republicans reauthorized last year — to spy on Americans.

“I would like to have a strategy to deal with the ISIS threat that’s beyond just the law enforcement model,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C. said to Bondi. “Does that make sense to you, that we should use every tool in the toolbox?” 

Such an approach “includes wrapping in our state and local officials” and “better cooperation” across the nation and world, Bondi replied.

“Do you support reauthorizing FISA in 2025?” asked Graham.

“I believe [section] 702 is up in 2026,” Bondi said. “We will closely be looking at FISA as a very important tool.”

“Do you agree that 702 provides important intel-gathering capability to protect our nation?” Graham asked. Bondi called it “extremely important.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also pushed Bondi on the matter. He said 60 percent of the president’s intelligence brief comes from Section 702. “It’s been called the crown jewel of U.S. intelligence,” he said. 

Cornyn claimed Section 702 “cannot be legally used to spy on American citizens” and if that happens, it should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” He then discussed Biden’s temporary extension of the law until 2026 “for the use of the intelligence community to target foreign threats to our national security.”

“I’d like you just confirm here on the record that you will enforce that law and you can support the law as it is written,” Cornyn said.

“Senator, I haven’t read the entire 702 in front of you, but I will commit to reading that and doing everything I can to keep America safe again,” Bondi replied.

Cornyn suggested concerns about Section 702 are “misinformation.”

“I think there’s a lot of misinformation with regard to how Section 702 works … it is not used to spy on American people,” Cornyn said. 

Cornyn referenced a memo from former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe — Trump’s pick for CIA director — allegedly saying “a warrant requirement may not achieve its intended objectives and could hinder national security efforts.” Cornyn asked Bondi if she shares that concern.

“I would read his memo, and I will speak to you after I read his memo,” Bondi said. 

Cornyn also pushed FISA on Ratcliffe during his confirmation hearing the same day. He claimed the law only lets federal officials target “foreigners overseas, not Americans.” He asked Ratcliffe about requiring a warrant to search surveillance information.

“Is there any way for you to go to court and establish the requirements of a warrant or probable cause in order to query that data?” Cornyn asked.

“You really don’t have the information to obtain the warrant and the process of obtaining the warrant — we’re talking about national security issues where sometimes minutes matter,” Ratcliffe said. 

While both Cornyn and Ratcliffe acknowledged potential “abuse” of FISA, the senator claimed requiring a warrant is “not the answer.” As in the Bondi hearing, he suggested concerns come from “misinformation.”

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about how FISA works …” Cornyn said. “But the fact of the matter is it’s illegal to use this tool to spy on American citizens, and there are protocols in place to lessen the likelihood.”

Never mind that, while official FISA procedures supposedly ensure the “DOJ verifies the accuracy of every fact stated in the application,” the FBI and DOJ used the phony Hillary Clinton-backed Steele Dossier to spy on Trump’s 2016 campaign. FBI Director Christopher Wray — who announced he will step down when Trump takes office — was also able to adjust the bureau’s FISA approach internally.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called out the dangers of FISA during Bondi’s confirmation hearing. 

He said under the law, federal agents “incidentally collect the communications of American citizens, either because they’re perhaps unwittingly talking to someone who might be an agent of a foreign power, and themselves under 702 surveillance” and place them on a “big database.” He said members of the FBI have accessed the database without a warrant.

“This has the effect of what we call a ‘de facto backdoor warrantless search.’ Would you agree with me that that is potentially concerning, any time any American citizens’ conversations are intercepted, stored … they ought not be searched without some kind of probable cause showing. I assume you agree with me on that,” Lee said. 

“Yes,” Bondi said. 

“It’s my sincere hope that next time FISA 702 comes up for reauthorization, Congress will finally do what it has been avoiding for a long time,” Lee said, “which is to ensure that this doesn’t happen.”

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.